More About Hip Hop and Liberian Dance

The four key elements of hip hop include: djing, beatboxing, graffiti and rap, but let’s not forget the element of hip-hop that keeps us moving — DANCE!

Now, although there is no definite answer of where dance started, you can trace some of the most popular American hip – hop dance moves all the way to Africa.

The art of dance is spread widely across Africa but types/styles of dance depend on the different regions and tribes. Some of the most traditional and common used Liberian dances include the following

Kru Dance: popular in the southeast of Liberia (not specified)
Vai Dance: popular in Grand Cape Mount and Bomi
Kpelle Dance: popular in most of central Liberia
Bassa Dance: popular in Monrovia, the capital

There’s just something about matching the rhythm of your body to the beat of a drum that allows many Liberian natives to use this expression to tell stories of tradition and culture.

In a conversation with one of the most highly acclaimed West African dance experts, Naomi Diouf, shared her views on the “values of traditional African dance study, including: it requires complex thinking, multi-tasking, the study of anatomy and physiology; it provides structure and organization which circles back to real life lessons for any teen engaged in arts and academics…

She stated that dance is a form of storytelling and in her words, “ It is both an idealized version of that culture and reflects reality”

Here we have a video entitled “ traditional Liberian dance” done in Canada, however , multiple comments below the video suggests that the dance being performed is not traditional. It is evident that oftentimes African dance styles are tweakd or even modified to fit in different cultures.

This is an example of traditional Liberian dance. Between this video and the last one we can attest to the similarities, much like how American hip hop dances can be shown to stem from various African heritage and culture.

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The podcast features discussions and interviews on hip hop music and culture produced by African artists in Africa and in the Diaspora. The podcast is produced by Dr. Msia Kibona Clark and students in the Department of African Studies at Howard University. You can access all of our podcasts and blog posts on hip hop in Africa at www.hiphopafrican.com or get in touch with us at feedback@hiphopafrican.com.